Create the Lewis Dot Structure of C2H4

To create the Lewis dot structure for C₂H₄ (ethylene), we first need to determine the total number of valence electrons from all the atoms involved. Carbon (C) has 4 valence electrons, and hydrogen (H) has 1 valence electron. Since there are two carbon atoms and four hydrogen atoms in ethylene, we calculate the total as follows:

• 2 (C) x 4 = 8 electrons from Carbon
• 4 (H) x 1 = 4 electrons from Hydrogen

This gives us a total of 12 valence electrons to work with.

Next, we place the carbon atoms in the center because they are capable of forming multiple bonds and surround them with the hydrogen atoms. The initial structure will look like this:

H   H
 \ /
  C  =  C
 / 
H   H

The two carbon atoms share a double bond (which accounts for 4 electrons) and each carbon atom is bonded to two hydrogen atoms (each bond using 2 electrons for a total of 4 electrons used). By drawing this arrangement, we have used all 12 electrons (4 from the double bond and 8 from the single bonds with hydrogen).

The final Lewis structure for C₂H₄ is:

  H   H
   \ /  
    C  =  C
   /  
  H   H

In this structure, each hydrogen atom has 2 electrons (a full shell for hydrogen), and each carbon atom has 8 electrons (satisfying the octet rule). This representation effectively shows how the electrons are distributed in the molecule.